A pair of new attack ads put out by Doug Ford’s mayoral campaign highlight John Tory’s past defeats at the ballot box and denounce the frontrunner’s SmartTrack proposal as a “shaky idea” that will cost taxpayers money.
The ads started airing on local radio stations Tuesday.
In the first ad, the narrator reminds voters of Tory’s defeat in the 2003 mayoral election as well as his loss to the Liberals in the 2007 provincial election and his defeat in a subsequent provincial byelection in 2009. In the second ad, the same narrator references a Globe and Mail report which suggested that Tory’s funding plan for SmartTrack is built on a “shaky foundation,” calling it “another shaky idea.”
Both ads ask the question “What’s the story Mr. Tory?”
“This is the same person that just called me trash last week...his campaign, called me a bully, called me a chicken, went after my brother Rob when he was lying in a hospital bed with cancer,” Doug Ford said of the ads while speaking with reporters ahead of an afternoon debate Tuesday. “That is John Tory’s DNA. He gets personal. This is above the belt.”
It should be noted that John Tory has not called Doug Ford trash, though a campaign worker did post a message on Twitter declaring Oct. 27 as “take out the trash day.”
Tory did call Ford a "bully" after the mayoral candidate accused him of being "parachuted in" to a number of high-profile jobs and declared Oct. 27 "Take John Tory to Work Day."
Speaking with reporters about the ads Tuesday, Tory said he is choosing to keep the campaign positive and won't retaliate.
“I just think that people are in the mood for a positive message and that is the kind of one that I am putting out there,” he said. “Everybody has to make their own decisions on this and be accountable for those decisions.”
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